Nationalist gets punched in Ukrainian parliament

August 14, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian parliament member who cultivates the image of a fighter against separatists didn’t fare well against one of his legislative colleagues, taking a punch in the face and staggering into the arms of spectators.

Oleh Lyashko and Oleksandr Shevchenko got into an argument on Thursday in the parliament building, with Shevchenko alleging that Lyashko has never been in the eastern area where Ukrainian forces are fighting separatist rebels.

Lyashko, who surprised many by running third in the May presidential election, has built his image as a nationalist through escapades including posting a picture on Facebook of himself standing over a suspected separatist who had been stripped, bound and loaded into a car trunk.

After several minutes of argument, Shevchenko hit Lyashko with a quick right to the cheek.